Recently, an ink jet printer is finding widespread application because of its advantages such as low noise or low running cost. In particular, as the personal computer has come into widespread use, the tendency has become evident that an individual client prints data, such as reports, stored in a computer, are printed by the ink jet printer, with the result that the ink jet printer is used in a number of cases as a substitute for a color copying machine. Thus, printing amenability of the ink jet printer for the plain paper represents one of the crucial properties as an article of commerce.
With the ink jet printer, it is difficult to meet all of variable properties, such as drying properties, feathering, bleeding, color bleed or emitting properties simultaneously. For example, as disclosed in Japanese Laying-Open Patent Publication S55-29546, if ink permeability is increased in photographic paper, considerable bleeding occurs. In order to overcome this drawback, it has been attempted to add an additive to the ink to improve the drying properties. The Japanese Laying-Open Patent Publication S60-23793 states that dialkylsupfosuccinic acid is able to improve the drying properties of ink. However, the drying properties achieved differ from one paper sort to another, while preservability is not optimum. On the other hand, the Japanese Laying-Open Patent Publication H1-203483 discloses the use of a recording liquid containing polyhydric alcohol derivatives and pectin. This recording liquid is also not optimum in reliability because pectin is nonionic.